South Korea’s Overseas Online Shopping Surges, with China Dominating the Market

SEJONG, Aug. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – In a significant shift in consumer behavior, South Korea’s overseas direct purchases, commonly known as “jikgu,” surpassed 2 trillion won in the second quarter of this year.

This milestone, reached for the first time since record-keeping began in 2014, was largely driven by a dramatic increase in purchases from China.

According to data released by Statistics Korea on August 1, the total value of overseas direct purchases in the second quarter reached 2.02 trillion won, marking a 25.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

China emerged as the dominant source for these purchases, accounting for 1.24 trillion won, a staggering 64.8% increase from last year.

This surge has been attributed to the growing popularity of Chinese e-commerce platforms like AliExpress and Temu, which have gained traction in South Korea with their low-priced products.

For the first time, China’s share of South Korea’s overseas direct purchases exceeded 60%, reaching 61.4%. This represents a significant jump from 46.8% in the second quarter of last year, an increase of 14.6 percentage points in just one year. 

In contrast, direct purchases from the United States decreased by 9.2% to 424.9 billion won, accounting for 21.1% of the total. Japan maintained its third-place position with 134.6 billion won, a 16.4% increase, representing 6.7% of the total.

While overseas purchases soared, South Korea’s online direct sales to foreign countries, known as “reverse direct purchases,” saw a decline.

In the second quarter, these sales fell by 6.7% year-on-year to 448.9 billion won, marking the first decrease in four quarters since the second quarter of 2023.

Although sales to the United States increased by 34.1%, this was offset by decreases in sales to China (-17.3%) and Japan (-19.4%).

The overall online shopping transaction value in South Korea for the second quarter reached 60.74 trillion won, an 8.6% increase from last year.

Food and beverages led the growth with a 15.2% increase, followed by travel and transportation services (9.9%) and agricultural and marine products (23.3%). 

In terms of product categories, food and beverages accounted for the largest share at 13.8% of total online shopping transactions, followed by food services (11.5%) and travel and transportation services (10.8%).

For the month of June alone, online shopping transactions totaled 20.1 trillion won, a 7.8% increase year-on-year.

Food and beverage sales continued to grow at 11.9%, while food delivery services saw a 12.5% increase, attributed to free delivery promotions by some companies and increased demand due to hot weather.

E-coupon services also saw a significant boost, increasing by 27.1% compared to the same month last year. 

Mobile shopping, a subset of online shopping, grew by 10.2% to reach 14.96 trillion won in June, underlining the continuing shift towards smartphone-based purchases.

Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)